My favorite part of the trip, however, came before we even got started. I said to Kaiden, "We're headed to California, is there anything you'd like to see while we're there?" I assumed he want to see the huge sequoia trees (we did) but he thought for a second and said, "Caine's Arcade." Now, if you don't know about Caine's Arcade watch this video . . .

. . . and you understand why I was so excited that of all places, he wanted to go there. Two things came to mind, first how did he even know about Caine's Arcade, and second was it still even around?He told me he learned about it from his teacher last year (kudos to Mrs. Maxium) and then we researched to see how to get there. We used all the typical online tools you'd guess, Google Maps, Search and Facebook and found directions.

We got to meet Caine's dad (and get a Fun Pass of course) and I realized that his rockstars - are not the rockstars I had at 9 years old, but other kids his age making things he can relate to and sharing them online. Enter Minecraft video walkthroughs. The reason why a kid from Maine would even know to trek to east L.A. and search him down was the video, so as the school year begins, imagine ways to promote the work you do and connect your students with those around the world.

About Me

Starting my career as an elementary teacher at the Parawai School in New Zealand, I am currently the Educational Technologist at Regional School Unit #19 in central Maine. I have provided support to educators for over a decade and conducted professional development across the world. I have always loved working with students with a special focus on having them teach others. I work with student presenters in a weekly live tech support show broadcast at www.techsherpas.org. ACTEM’s 2013 Educator of the year, I have brought students to numerous conferences such as Maine's ACTEM conference, Alan November's Building Learning Communities and the Google Teacher Academy.